I have a confession to make. I didn’t think Patrick Mahomes was good. Coming into the 2017 NFL Draft
http://www.thetexanslockerroom.com/authentic-senio-kelemete-jersey , I thought there was a big distance between Mahomes and the other 3 QBs at the
top of the draft (Mitchell Trubisky, Deshaun Watson, and DeShone Kizer). As with
most things that require prognostication, it ends badly, with you writing
something like “Mahomes is a Johnny Manziel-esque figure who thrives in chaos,
which is a place NFL defenses try to coax opposing offenses into’.”As always,
there is something to be learned from such silly evaluations of talent as mine.
First off, fit is immensely important, and having a coach that recognizes the
importance of developing a QB within a system that accentuates what he does well
and reduces the chances for him to screw up and prove idiots like me right. If
only concepts like the one I outlined before were the norm and not the
exception. My bleating aside, there is a game to be enjoyed here tonight between
the Chiefs and Bengals.The Bengals in particular have been in the midst of a
decent streak of success, so this should be a interesting affair, provided
Vontaze Burfict doesn’t attempt to decapitate Mahomes in the first quarter.Enjoy
your night on BRB. Brian Gaine’s terribly managed offseason, especially related
to the offensive line, led to his firing today," />Skip to main
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Thought-Provoking Texans Analysis2019 NFL Draft2019 Houston Texans
OffseasonBrian Gaine and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad
OffseasonNew,283commentsBrian Gaine’s terribly managed offseason, especially
related to the offensive line, led to his firing today,
CDTShareTweetShareShareBrian Gaine and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad
OffseasonUltimately, it was plays like this
Trevor Daniel Jersey , and an inability to meaningfully address the situation this offseason, is why Brian Gaine was fired.Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY
SportsI think it’s fair to say that expectations for Brian Gaine heading into
the 2019 offseason were fairly high. His 2018 offseason and draft were solid,
especially with the resources he had. Heck, even signing Tyrann Mathieu to a one
year “show me” deal was a mighty fine move, especially at the price.With a
metric kitten-ton of both draft and salary cap capital, the Houston Texans had
the resources to be a much improved team in 2019. Instead, it went south pretty
quickly, starting with free agency.When the Texans signed Brandon Dunn, I mean
Christian Covington, I mean Angelo Blackson to a three-year, $12MM contract, it
was a serious head-scratcher. He’s just a body who does nothing to improve the
Texans. Sure, this is an “on the edges” kind of signing, not really a
team-killer, but to give such a fungible player a contract like this is
questionable.Then, we got lucky! Gaine’s apparent free agency strategy seemed to
be that he draws a line in the sand for salary; if that line gets crossed, he’s
out. This worked out swimmingly for the Texans when the Kansas City Chiefs
backed the Brinks truck up for Mathieu, who wasn’t worth the $7MM we paid him in
2018. Despite of himself, Gaine got lucky when Mathieu signed with the
Chiefs.March 12th started out well enough. After losing out on Mathieu, Gaine
picked up Tashaun Gipson, probably a better player at this stage of their
careers, for far less than what Mathieu received.Gipson’s three-year deal was a
good move.For me, losing Rodger Saffold to the despised BE-SFs of Methoptamia
was the beginning of the end. Saffold’s four-year, $44MM deal would have easily
fit within our cap constraints, and as one of the best guards in the NFL, he
would have quickly upgraded the offense line AND given a rookie left tackle a
great veteran presence. Alas, it seems that Saffold’s salary number crossed
Gaine’s line in the sand, so shrug emoji.Signing both Bradley Roby and Briean
Boddy-Calhoun to one-year contracts means you really don’t care
Womens Aaron Colvin Jersey , just like you really didn’t care with Mathieu. There were several other CBs to chase, but we settled for a guy who
can’t play against WR1s or WR2s and a guy who has been terrible in the slot the
past two seasons. If they play well? They’ll chase the money like Mathieu did. I
would have taken a shot at Steven Nelson or Jason Verrett to multi-year deals.
You gotta take risks to be successful, and neither player would have hamstrung
our salary cap.Speaking of, Morris Claiborne is still without a team.Gaine then
signed AJ McCarron to back up Deshaun Watson. That’s akin to an Indy driver’s
back-up car being a Yugo.All throughout the offseason, Gaine failed to find help
for the interior pass rush, probably feeling pretty proud of himself for that
sweet Blackson signing. We could have handled Malik Jackson’s (three years,
$30MM from the Eagles) or Sheldon Richardon’s (three years, $36MM from the
Browns) contracts easily. Or Gerald McCoy’s deal with the Panthers, which broke
a particular writer. Ndamukong Suh and Muhammad Wilkerson are both still free
agents, at least.We also signed the worst OT in football, Matt Kalil, to a
contract.Then, of course, there was the 2019 NFL Draft. In retrospect, it seems
like the only film Gaine watched was from the Senior Bowl, as the first three
picks—Tytus Howard, Lonnie Johnson, and Max Scharping—all participated.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that Gaine watched any other game tape.The
Iggles, of course, jumped ahead of us to grab Andre Dillard. Passing on Jawaan
Taylor is also terribly confusing. If you believe that Howard was our first
choice all along, I have mountain property to sell you in Conroe. As of now,
Howard seems to be a less athletic version of Julie’n Davenport. At best, he’s a
major project.Continuing the theme of passivity in the second round, we didn’t
move up to take a pro-ready CB (who is apparently already running with the 1s)
in Greedy Williams. Instead, we passively waited for Lonnie Johnson, whose tape
is simply awful. Look, maybe Williams can’t tackle. Fine. Johnson can apparently
neither tackle NOR cover.Max Scharping seems like a fine right tackle
prospect
Womens Martinas Rankin Jersey , but he’s still another project. So, if you’re counting along, the Texans’ offensive line projects include Howard,
Davenport, Scharping, and Martinas Rankin. Do you really think Mike Devlin and
Bill O’Brien are the best candidates to coach up those guys?To be fair, Kahale
Warring looks like a fabulous pick. But taking a fullback who doesn’t know how
to play his position in the seventh round is next level stupid. The Texans
should have been far more aggressive in moving up to help the team in
2019.Instead, our first three picks in the first two rounds are serious
projects. Sure, this might turn out to be the best draft in NFL history EVAR,
but all signs currently point to no.Because of the timing of Gaine’s firing, I
believe the Texans coaches got together, looked at what they had after OTAs, and
panicked. Placing Gaine’s termination on Jadeveon Clowney’s contract situation
makes no sense because it’s been like that for a while now. No, this is about
the offensive line.Ultimately, Brian Gaine had one job during the 2019
offseason: improve the offensive line and better protect your wunderkind QB.
Gaine failed miserably.Instead of signing Saffold (or any other real offensive
lineman in free agency), Gaine passed. Instead of being aggressive in the draft
to grab Dillard, he got jumped. He panicked by taking Howard. Scharping’s
ceiling is pretty middling.Gaine overly focused on offensive line versatility.
Look, if you want to have a guy who’s comfortable playing both OT spots and
another guy or two who can play all three interior positions, great.However,
your starting offensive linemen should not be mixed and matched. This same
strategy killed the offensive line early last season, and it’s going to kill us
again this year. Versatility does not create cohesion and continuity, two things
that greatly helped the offensive lines during the Gary Kubiak years. We still
do not have adequate talent on the offensive line to mitigate the risk to
Watson, and the risk is amplified by the “versatility” we keep hearing is so
prized.In today’s NFL, you win by getting the other team’s QB dirty while
keeping your QB clean. This afternoon, Brian Gaine was fired for not doing
nearly enough, or really much at all, to better protect Deshaun Watson in 2019.
It was undoubtedly the correct move to ax Gaine. The Texans need to make one
more change to get this franchise back on track.
